The leakiest launch ever? Google Nexus 5 rumour roundup

It's looking pretty certain that by tomorrow or maybe even later tonight, Google's Nexus 5 will be making a dramatic surprise entrance into the smartphone market.

It's been a bizarre and rocky campaign, which will enter history either as one of the tech world's best-orchestrated campaigns of meticulous leaks and rumour-mongering, or one of its most atrociously-kept secrets. Nobody's quite sure which it is, and with the anticipation nearing fever pitch on all sides, no one exactly cares.

In the run-up to the launch, we thought we'd run down all the rumours that have been hitting the web over the last months, so you know just what to expect.

18 March - Nexus 5 prototype featured in image and spec leak

Way back in March, we were treated to a photo of a Nexus 5 prototype, courtesy of an anonymous source claiming to work for Google. The images were leaked to popular fan site Android and Me. Codenamed 'Megalodon,' the device pictured was apparently one of several templates for the forthcoming product.

13 May - Nexus 5 rumours build as retailers drop Nexus 4

When Phones4u and the Carphone Warehouse stopped selling the Nexus 4 just a week before Google's I/O conference, most rumour-mongers went practically insane with speculation. It didn't happen, though, and everyone was disappointed for about five minutes.

4 September - Google pulls video that reveals Nexus 5

September came around, and Google shocked the easily-shockable by announcing that its Android 4.4 would be called KitKat instead of Key Lime Pie. What was a little more surprising was what happened when Google unveiled its large KitKat sculpture at its HQ in Mountain View, CA. One employee was captured using a brand new, not-yet-released Nexus 5 as a camera. Whether Google knew about this or not, it quickly took down the video – however, these stills of the Nexus 5's back have been circulating ever since.

16 September - Mid-October release date rumoured

The rumour mill kept milling and milling. Google announced that KitKat would be released in October. Tipsters started tipping (as they are wont to do) that an even bigger release was also planned for the same time. Cue rumours about the Nexus 5.

Wake me up when this build-up ends.

18 September - Rumour mill in overdrive as Nexus 4 sells out

Knocking down the price on the Nexus 4 seemed to have worked, as potential buyers found out mid-September. People who searched for the device in both 8GB and 16GB were met with the laconic phrases, "We are out of inventory. Please check back soon." Everyone got excited. That was it: the Nexus 5 was definitely, definitely coming sometime soon. Maybe.

2 October - Rumour: Nexus 5 noticeably smaller than LG G2

Soon after that, we found out that Google's newest smartphone offering would feature a smaller screen than the LG G2. Since LG manufactures the Nexus phones for Google, this was a significant development. Said nobody.

Getting close to the rumoured launch date, Android Police was privy to what appeared to be the full service manual for the upcoming Nexus 5, packed with diagrams, images, flow charts and technical information about the phone. That's when we learned about its 4.95in 1080p display, and 2GB of RAM, along with all of these other specs.

Bluetooth 3.0 (Assumed to be an error – Bluetooth 4.0 appears elsewhere in the document, but according to the last page it's still a draft)

UMTS/GSM/CDMA/LTE compatibility

Thanks, Google - now give us the damn phone already!

18 October -Nexus 5 leaks onto Google Play store with price details

Rumour watchers were gobsmacked in mid-October when full price details for the Nexus 5 were apparently posted too early on the Google Play store. Thanks to the ninja-fast print screening of one shopper, we now know that the Nexus 5 will be priced at $349, so something around the £215 mark once it's made its way over to the UK. The Nexus 10 tablet also had a suspicious leak of its own later on in this month.

So either some intern on Google's campus made a hideous error with a multi-million pound flagship project, or Google was messing with us. Which do you believe?

28 October - Nexus 5 smartphone coming 1 November?

With new leaks leaking all over the place pretty much every day, you've got to feel like we're reaching the end of the madness pretty soon. All we need is some notorious leakers to get involved. Cue notorious leaker @evleaks, and his post of rendered stills purporting to be the Nexus 5, accompanied with the not-so-cryptic message "In white. 11/1." I wonder what it means?

29 October - Nexus 5 revealed by Canadian carrier

Only two days ago, we got into the realm of official disclosures, with Canadian carrier Wind Mobile launching a pre-registration page for the new device alongside a high-resolution image and a detailed list of specifications. The company dubbed the new device "the smart, new phone made to capture the moments that matter", sparking rumours of some kind of great camera.

31 October - New leaked photos show unboxed Nexus 5

In the last few days, photos have leaked onto the web like through . A lot, basically. We had pictures of warehouses full of boxes, which were exactly as exciting as that sounds, although the boxes were allegedly filled with Nexus 5s. Then we even got a picture of a Nexus 5 out of its box leaked onto overclockers.co.uk by some over-zealous retail employee.

So there you have it - the year in Nexus 5 leaks. Join us tonight or tomorrow for the climax of all this excitement, when we might finally see this most elusive of phones.